The commemorative monument that is to be erected in the “Selecția” Park of the municipality of Balti has no political connotation. This is to be put up on the initiative of apolitical organizations for keeping, promoting and strengthening the institutional values among former and current employees of the Border Guards Service and the Border Police, said Oleg Fediko, chairman of the public association “Border Guards Association” of Moldova.
In a news conference at IPN, Oleg Fediko noted that representatives of the National Unity Party, by their statements, try to distort the importance and moral value of the initiative to erect a commemorative monument in Balti. According to him, it is regrettable that a party is trying to get political advantages from a noble initiative to build a monument without public funds. He urged the party’s representatives to refrain from speculations and interpretations as the monument will be erected in accordance with the law and the conception is to be approved by the responsible authorities.
Representatives of the association said “the unfounded accusations made by representatives of this political party and the attempts to distort the historical truth by associating this initiative with the NKVD troops harmed the feelings and dignity of about 50,000 people of the Republic of Moldova, who, starting with 1991, had done the military service in the Border Guards Service and the Border Police.”
Sergey Nazarenko, chairman of the public association “Fraternity of Cadets”, noted the organization he represents supports the initiative to build the monument. Those who try to associate this initiative with the NKVD troops probably do not know the meaning of this term. “The abbreviation NKVD means People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, which is now called the Ministry of Home Affairs and fulfills practically the same duties. Pleading today against the NKVD, you plead against our law enforcement agencies that protect our homeland, in another historical period,” stated Sergey Nazarenko.
The Association’s secretary Valery Astafyev said those who oppose the erecting of the monument argued only that by this monument the relations with the neighboring states will be worsened. But this is not true as the Border Guards Association is apolitical and maintains relations with mates from other states, including Romania. These will definitely not oppose such an initiative.
“I’m for building such a monument because history cannot be ended or what happened cannot be forgotten so that we could start from today, as the representatives of political parties want,” stated Mihai Carp, chairman of the War Veterans Union of Centru district. He noted that these monuments will represent memorials for the followers too as they should know that there were such persons who enforced the security of the country’s borders.
